


Chasing Tales

by Wordybirbs



Series: Ghost Stories [3]
Category: Ghost of Tsushima (Video Game)
Genre: A Message in Fire Spoilers, Act2 Spoilers, F/M, Ghost of Tsushima, Peace for the Divine spoilers, Yuna Tales spoilers, basically a lot of referenced things that could be spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:26:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25716520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wordybirbs/pseuds/Wordybirbs
Summary: Yuna/Jin Sakai: When Kenji meets Jin in Toyotama he tells him of Yuna's nearby travels. Jin thinks it's the perfect opportunity to see his friend and offer any aid if needed.
Relationships: Yuna/Jin Sakai
Series: Ghost Stories [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1853326
Comments: 12
Kudos: 48





	Chasing Tales

His emotions had been churning in a nauseating cadence since he first crossed into Umugi prefecture. Though Jin found Lady Sanjo’s verbal spars to be quite distracting, his general _grin and bear it_ strategy was slowly eroding under the realities of his home under siege. No matter how many lives he was able to help or protect more suffered at the hands of the invaders, or worse, their own neighbors. He hadn’t thought of himself as idealistic before Komoda beach, but being a lord apparently meant one was above witnessing the trials of peasants. A precursor to being in a higher class, he was sure. 

Still, traveling the roads of his home had humbled him-was continuing to humble him-and had opened his eyes to the problems and injustices many of his people faced on a daily basis. So much so that he nearly felt a stranger to his Uncle when he arrived at the camp in Firefly Marsh. A feeling that was exacerbated after hearing Lord Shimura’s plan of attack. His first thoughts had been to infiltrate rather than directly challenge the Mongol soldiers at Fort Mitodake, it would've saved more of their own men. 

He remembered a conversation with Yuna in the early days of their meeting. Before his first assassination. She had said it must be a hard way to live, trapped under a code with no emotional allowances. He was, however, finding that his personal bushido was the container that held him together through each atrocity he saw. Even if aspects of it were deviating from his Uncle’s. His people looked to him for more than just protection. He tracked thieves and returned statues in order to preserve hope. He rekindled lighthouse flames. Aided Monks. Liberated farmsteads and drove out the invaders. And in return? His heart was fed. His people were not afraid to approach him with their troubles. Families were reconnected….sometimes. More often than not they were fractured, the remnants of them left to drift in their own new hellish reality. 

Jin wiped a hand down his face and leaned back in the saddle, staring up at the clouds. He was tired. There was a knot of rage that was still unraveling in his chest from dealing with the desecrated Inari Shrines. While peace had been restored to the divine he felt it swiftly pass over him, unwilling as he was to lose even a moment of it. Now he was heading Southwest to Otsuna prefecture in order to meet with Yuna there. He had come across Kenji, of all people, in the Kushi Grasslands. Kenji had told him that Yuna was traveling West of Yarikawa, near the estuary. 

He patted Sora’s neck and spurred him on to a gallop. They both needed the freedom after the overly cautious riding through Mongol-claimed territories; he conveniently ignored the other, softer reasons he wanted to find Yuna. He thought back to the last time he saw her, which was briefly in Yarikawa. He'd followed Yuna and Taka to the city hoping to get a sense for how difficult recruiting its people might be. He remembered snorting in amusement (albeit privately) after speaking with the steward and some of the villagers -it'd be about as difficult as winning Yuna’s trust, he bet, though Taka's friendliness always gave him hope. He had left shortly after, having promised Lady Masako he’d meet her to continue the hunt for her families murderers.Then he had gone to find his Uncle to aid in getting their message out of the bay and to the Shogun. 

\---

It was dark when he came across a familiar silhouette on the road. “Yuna…” she was standing near the still burning remains of what looked to be a merchant's cart.

“Jin.” She said. He dismounted and stepped closer to her and saw that she looked just as tired as he felt. Her back was straight, but in that forced way that suggested she was relying on locked muscles to stay alert rather than true perception and focus. There were dark shapes outside of the firelight’s perimeter, grave mounds, he guessed. It must've been a long day.

“I thought you were staying in Yarikawa, what are you doing out here?” 

She held his gaze -eyes flashing suddenly in anger. “Tracking Altan, a Mongol warlord. He’s bad news Jin, taking food and medicine, slaughtering families—he’s terrorizing people.” Her fists clenched and she glanced towards the cart. “Anyone that fights back…”

“Gets butchered…” Jin finished her thought softly. They both stared into the fire in silence, he felt that knot of rage tighten again. “Yuna, where do we start?” Her eyes jumped to him once more, surprise flashing across her face. He knew she didn’t quite believe that a lord would just...help. Jin silently resolved to fix that while she told him about her friend Ichi and the inn. 

He left Sora to graze a safe distance from the road, murmuring softly that he’d be back soon. When he rejoined Yuna on the main path she raised an eyebrow at him and smirked. “I would ask if that horse meant as much to you as your Uncle does, but I’m afraid to know the answer.” 

“Good.” He grinned and knocked the end of her bow askew. She tsked at him and resettled her weapon over her shoulder while he pretended to fix a tie in his armor. The both of them made their way North on foot, and after a short time they were closing in on Ichi’s inn.

“I can see a building through the trees there, let’s scout the grounds.” He followed Yuna through the brush and crept silently to a small space between piles of planed wood and a cart loaded with supplies. Raucous laughter along with harsh voices drifted from inside the inn. There was one lone man hunched by the well, drawing water up. “I’ll talk to him...see what’s going on.” He glanced over his shoulder to find Yuna squeezed close in behind him, she nodded in agreement and he hopped down the small barrier and approached. 

What he did _not_ expect was to be launched almost immediately into battle with a group of half-drunk Mongols after the man lost his nerve and shouted for them. He supposed he could forgive the peasant the small betrayal, he thought, as the man ran towards the fields. Jin threw kunai swiftly when he spied a Mongol with twin blades trying to flank Yuna. _Too close!_

On second thought, forgiveness could probably wait.

She spared a quick thanks before finishing the man with her knife and Jin turned back to his own staggered foe. One step and he hardened up his water stance, grounding himself in stone, his blade poised for a biting thrust into the soldier’s unguarded throat. The skirmish was over. He dispatched the last Mongol who was desperately trying to crawl away while Yuna shouted for her friend. 

“Yuna, what are you doing here?” Ichi spoke angrily. Jin was wiping the blood from his blade when Yuna's friend ran out, he stepped up to the two women unobtrusively while they talked. He knew about uncertain ground in friendships – though he hoped Yuna and Ichi had a better outcome than he and Ryuzo. With a last spiteful comment from Ichi, he watched as Yuna stormed off, moving sideways to block her from Ichi's immediate line of site. “She risked her life for you.” He couldn't keep the chiding tone from his voice but he managed to keep his face blank when he caught Ichi’s eyes, hoping to take her attention away from his defensive positioning. 

Ichi looked at him with pity. “Do yourself a favor, my lord. Keep away from that one.” She pointed with her chin in Yuna’s direction. He had to hold his tongue. He needed more information from Ichi after all, and he had found that remaining a neutral ear often prompted people to share more than they otherwise would. An inn owner that catered to Mongols would have insights that they could use against the invaders.

“Ichi, we can protect you from Altan. We only need to know where to look.”

\---

Altan, it turns out, was a tricky man to track. Not even his own men knew where he was at any given time. Jin headed back to Yuna, she was waiting for him near the road lamp. The glow from the lantern combined with the light of the moon cast her in a soft mix of warm and cool patterns. He stopped awkwardly, thankful for the shadows hiding his flushed skin. 

“What did you find out?” She asked. 

He cleared his throat. “Not enough, but we’ll manage. We’ll need to draw Altan out of hiding, she suggested we make an example out of his closest allies...Japanese slavers.” 

“Mamushi Brothers.” 

“Ichi said you’d know them.”

“I’ll bet she did...” She muttered darkly. “Those three bastards run a farm near the river.”

It was generally safer to travel in the dark, and so they resolved to go their separate ways that night. Yuna grabbed one of the dead Mongol's horses–they wouldn’t be needing it anymore–and together they headed back towards where he had left Sora. He picked Yuna’s brain about the Mamushi Brothers as much as he could, but exhaustion had snuck up on them and their conversation lapsed to silence. After a time, he gave a low whistle and Sora came trotting up to them. His horse knickered at him and lipped at his shoulder straps. Yuna’s muffled laughter made him smile. 

He split some of the supplies he was carrying on his saddle and made her take them. He had come across a patch of medicinal plants, and he knew she checked in on known survivor camps in her travels as much as he did. “When you’re ready, meet me there." He looked her over one last time for any hurts lingering from the battle, and perhaps to imprint her further into his minds eye. Traveling the roads could be dangerous-even in peaceful times-after all. "We’ll do this together.” Two beats passed while they watched each other. Three.

“I will...” She said, stepping into Jin’s space. She held her hand out to Sora and scritched the horse's chin when he offered.

“Thank you, Jin.” 

He held his breath until she had walked the short distance back to her own horse and mounted up, exhaling slowly as he watched her form fade into the shadows of the forest. Jin patted Sora’s thick shoulder, then turned to rest his forehead against his horse's neck. “You too?” He said, noticing Sora’s ears pointing towards the forest path Yuna disappeared through. He hopped into the saddle and headed towards Fort Imai, planning to circle back with Yuna the next evening. Reports had reached him that the Fort was housing a War General in addition to being a hub where information was spread to other Mongol leaders. If nothing else, he knew there were people who would need help along the way. Wisps of cloud passed over the moon as horse and rider made their way into the night. 

\---

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all!
> 
> So I finished Act II of the game and my soul is crushed. That is all.
> 
> Please enjoy my take on the first Yuna Tale quest! We'll see if my inspiration holds out for all four of them (i'll make this a chaptered fic if that pans out). ;-) 
> 
> Some of the dialogue was taken straight from the game, so I feel like I should state: I’m really not making any money off of this. 😂 I tried to mix it up a bit so it felt better to me in the context of a written story.
> 
> Thanks for stopping by, and totally drop critiques/comments if you feel like it.


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